Soundtrap Launches A Podcast Studio In The Cloud

The Spotify-owned online music studio, Soundtrap, is poised to become a major part of the company’s growing interest in podcasts. Soundtrap for Storytellers was just launched to address the needs of podcast creators.

Why It Matters

Soundtrap for Storytellers is a cloud-based podcast creation platform with numerous advanced features such as the ability to transcribe and edit podcasts, collaborate with others, and more. This follows on the heels of Spotify’s acquisition of Anchor, another podcast creation app, in February. Both products make it easier to create a podcast, but there are a few key differences.

Digging Deeper

Anchor is a lightweight app that is available for free, offering:

Podcast creation

Hosting

Distribution

Monetization

The more robust Soundtrap is a paid subscription app that starts at $11.99 per month (billed annually). It is focused on recording, editing and publishing primarily to Spotify, and its pricing reflects that differentiation. Some of its built-in features include:

Recording

Remote multi-track interviewing with video chat

Interactive transcripts

Full audio production capabilities

SEO optimization

Sound effects

Distribution

For example, the new service will transcribe the podcast (only available in English for now), with the transcript then published along with the podcast to help optimize its discoverability in online search results. Multiple podcasters can also talk and record on separate tracks in the same podcast, and send a link for remote guests to join the session.

When Spotify first acquired Soundtrap, its intent was to offer more services to artists on the platform and focus on collaborative music making. But with Spotify’s huge push into the podcast market, that attention and technology have been turned to podcasting instead of music.

According to TechCrunch, the service really shines with its editing studio. In a unique feature, users can edit the spoken-word audio file much the same way as editing a text document. This makes it a compelling alternative to existing solutions. Another major benefit is its “one-stop-shop” capabilities. Instead of podcast creators having to hop from product to product for recording, editing and publishing, Soundtrap can take care of all of these within the platform.

The biggest drawback to Soundtrap is that it publishes only to Spotify. In order to distribute their podcast anywhere else, creators would need to download the podcast and re-distribute it using another service. Given its price point, TechCrunch said that could be a sticking point. Soundtrap also does not offer analytics. For those aiming to produce quality podcasts to Spotify, though, it’s an attractive solution.

The Bottom Line

“Part of Spotify’s mission is to grow the number of creators able to build podcasts worldwide,” said Charlie Hellman, Spotify’s Head of Creator Marketplace. “Soundtrap for Storytellers gives podcast creators incredible editing capabilities, collaboration in real-time, and the ability to publish their podcast to Spotify,”